Leader-Follower Coordination in UAV Swarms for Autonomous 3D Exploration via Reinforcement Learning

Robert Kathrein, Robert Kathrein, Julian Bialas, Julian Bialas, Mohammad Reza Mohebbi, Mohammad Reza Mohebbi, Simone Walch, Mario Döller, Kenneth Hakr

2025

Abstract

Autonomous volumetric scanning in three-dimensional environments is critical for environmental monitoring, infrastructure inspection, and search and rescue applications. Efficient coordination of multiple Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is essential to achieving complete and energy-aware coverage of complex spaces. In this work, a Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based framework is proposed for the coordination of a leader-follower UAV system performing volumetric scanning. The system consists of two heterogeneous UAVs with directional sensors and constant mutual orientation during the mission. A centralized control policy is learned based on Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) to control the leader UAV, which produces trajectory commands for the follower to achieve synchronized movement and effective space coverage. The observation space includes a local 3D occupancy map of the leader and both UAVs’ battery levels, enabling energy-aware decision-making. The reward function is carefully designed to favor exploration and visiting new regions without penalizing collision and boundary crossing. The proposed method is verified using both simulation experiments and real-world experiments on the ArduPilot platform, showing the applicability of RL to scalable autonomous multi-UAV scanning operations.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Kathrein R., Bialas J., Mohebbi M., Walch S., Döller M. and Hakr K. (2025). Leader-Follower Coordination in UAV Swarms for Autonomous 3D Exploration via Reinforcement Learning. In Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO; ISBN 978-989-758-770-2, SciTePress, pages 176-183. DOI: 10.5220/0013673400003982

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icinco25,
author={Robert Kathrein and Julian Bialas and Mohammad Mohebbi and Simone Walch and Mario Döller and Kenneth Hakr},
title={Leader-Follower Coordination in UAV Swarms for Autonomous 3D Exploration via Reinforcement Learning},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO},
year={2025},
pages={176-183},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013673400003982},
isbn={978-989-758-770-2},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Informatics in Control, Automation and Robotics - Volume 1: ICINCO
TI - Leader-Follower Coordination in UAV Swarms for Autonomous 3D Exploration via Reinforcement Learning
SN - 978-989-758-770-2
AU - Kathrein R.
AU - Bialas J.
AU - Mohebbi M.
AU - Walch S.
AU - Döller M.
AU - Hakr K.
PY - 2025
SP - 176
EP - 183
DO - 10.5220/0013673400003982
PB - SciTePress